service

The Art of Great Service and When We Stopped Listening

Years ago, I led a customer service team for a well-known telecommunications company in the UK.

Despite its size, one thing that was always drummed into us was that no matter what the problem, have empathy with the customer and acknowledge that any verbal attacks are aimed at the company, not us.

It did the trick.

We knew that our company wasn?t perfect ? which one is? We also knew that some of our company?s practices wouldn?t go over well with our customers, and that would lead to unhappy customers calling in to complain.

Though they sometimes got vociferous in their argument, we would always listen, offer empathy and look for a way that we could both work together to resolve the issue.

Again, it worked.

At the end of the call, the customer would apologize and say they were really sorry that they came over as argumentative ? they were just frustrated and felt as if they had no-one to talk to about it. All they wanted was for someone to listen and show that their problems were being heard.

Even if nothing could be done about them, just knowing someone cared made a huge difference.

So when did we stop listening?

I come across businesses every day that seem to have forgotten what customer service is. Public transport that?s always late with no apology or explanation; banks raising charges on credit cards with little warning and no alternatives; restaurants changing menus without any kind of customer survey (and often losing the best food in the process).

Even social media isn?t immune to this malaise ? look at the thousands of unhappy Facebook users when the company changes its front-end without asking users what they thought first? Even worse, when users complain, Facebook pretty much sticks its head in the sand and says,??Take it or leave it.?

What amazes me more about this apathy toward customers is that businesses can?t afford to have this attitude. All around us, businesses are folding, communities are suffering and families struggling to keep their heads above water.

New business will be almost impossible to come across with any great success, which is why it?s more important than ever to look after your existing customers.

Business is tough enough as it is. We all want to attract new clients and build our brand, but we can?t afford to do so at the expense of our existing customers. Along with employees, they?re the soul of any company and the ones that can offer you the best kind of new client attraction ? word-of-mouth advertising.

Something for businesses to keep in mind the next time they review their customer service policy.

image: gumption

Great Customer Service or Great PR?

So, Morton’s Steakhouse is making waves online at the minute, due to them delivering a steak to HARO founder and social media guy Peter Shankman.

If you’ve not heard it, the story in a nutshell is this – Peter faces a long flight home and is hungry, so tweets to Morton’s that he’d love a steak delivered and waiting for him at Newark Airport. Lo and behold, when he arrives and goes to his car, the steak and a tuxedo-wearing waiter are there waiting for him.

Cue Peter’s post “The Greatest Customer Service Story Ever Told”, and his belief in the awesome way Morton’s looks after their customers.

This would all be great, if it was a simple customer service story. But I’m not sold on that – it feels a great PR opportunity for Morton’s (and nothing wrong with that), but a customer service example? Sorry, not for me.

Average Joe vs. Peter Shankman

In his post, Peter says he believes it’s because he’s a good customer, and that he wasn’t treated any differently because he has over 100,000 Twitter followers. And looking at Morton’s social media stream, it’s clear they do a great job of engaging people, both on Twitter and Facebook. And that’s great to see.

But would they deliver a steak to anyone that tweeted them to, to show great customer service? I’m not so sure. Especially if it’s not paid for (which Peter doesn’t mention in his post, so not sure if it was free or not).

Had Joe Invisible with 10 followers tweeted the same, would he have received the same service? Acknowledgement? Options to have delivery to an airport? Perhaps, though the cynic in me is doubtful (always happy to be proven wrong!).

Great Service Is Consistent

One of the overall takeaways from Peter’s post is that Morton’s is always known for being on the ball. Which is quite a thing to live up to, for any company. While Morton’s no doubt offers a great experience, they’re also guilty of poor ones.?For every positive review, there are a fair few negative experiences.

Of course, this is to be expected for any business, and restaurants in particular will usually have an above average list of complaints compared to many other industries – we people like our food, after all.

But the litmus test for any business is how they respond to their critics as much as how they respond to their fans. Does Morton’s respond – publicly or privately – to each online complaint? Does their customer service team pro-actively engage their critics on forums and review sites as much as they do on Twitter and Facebook, which are far more public platforms to the majority of social media users?

Perhaps, and if so, great, because that would be the sign of “the greatest customer service”, as opposed to a steak to an influencer.

There’s Nothing Wrong With PR for Customers

As mentioned, Peter counters claims in his post that it had anything to do with his Twitter followers, and more to do with Morton’s offering awesome customer service.

But so what if it is down to his follower numbers? Or the fact that his HARO newsletter offers more than 130,000 people to get a story in front of? Or that his site, where Peter posts about his experience, is in the Top 50,000 online according to Alexa?

It’s smart business to see an opportunity like a tweet from Peter, and know that you’re probably going to get a shitload of traffic and positive press for the price of a steak meal.

But, again, that’s great PR, not great customer service.

So, by all means, let’s congratulate Morton’s for a job well done – more companies should take a look at how a relatively small act can result in a fairly big reaction. But let’s also keep in mind who the recipient of the action was, and the reach and eyeballs that recipient has, before we say it’s the norm and not a well-seized opportunity.

Unless, of course, Morton’s wants to spend over $4.5 million and send their lowest-priced steak to all of Peter’s 100,000+ followers, to show everyone gets treated the same…

image: suttonhoo

A Quick Thank You to Evan Carmichael and Team

When something goes wrong, how it’s resolved says a lot about the person or business.

It can mean the difference between being perceived as not caring about your customers or users, or showing that you recognize your userbase is a key part of your success.

Evan Carmichael and team fall squarely in the latter category.

I recently became an author over at EvanCarmichael.com. It’s a well-respected resource centre for small businesses and entrepreneurs, and offers a ton of great advice for anyone from these fields.

I had set my account up to automatically share any articles I posted via the Evan Carmichael Twitter account. This worked fine until a couple of weeks ago, when the tweets went out with the article title but not the links to the pieces.

I got a couple of tweets from people that received notification, but couldn’t follow a link (since there wasn’t one). I replied that it may be a quirk with the @EvanCarmichael account so it could be checked.

Within about 20 minutes, Evan had replied, apologizing for any issues and advising that his marketing manager, Marija Sekularac, would look into it. Lo and behold, I got a great email from Marija shortly afterward apologizing and saying that she would keep an eye on things for me.

But this isn’t the best part (as great as that service is).

A few days later, a parcel arrives for me at Bonsai Interactive’s office. Inside are four really – and I mean REALLY – delicious brownies, and a card apologizing again for the mishap. The message (which is pictured below) made me chuckle too.

What really impressed me about this whole thing was that it was based upon a really small technical hiccup. It may have been an issue with Twitter’s API, which is never the most reliable. Or it might have been a feed-to-Twitter issue (which I’ve had numerous times elsewhere).

The level of follow-up from Evan Carmichael and his team on this makes me wonder what would happen if something really big crashed – maybe they’d send a jet! I’ll have to look into that…

In all seriousness, though, I just wanted to say a big thank you to the team. And now, because of that service, I’m far more likely to recommend Evan’s site if people are looking for small business resources than I am something like MarketingProfs or similar.

Which just goes to reinforce the fact that great service stands you apart from your competitors. And the best thing? You don’t even have to send out brownies and a card to show you have great service – just acknowledging and trying to help works wonders too.

Something a lot of businesses seem to forget…

This Isn’t Rocket Science

If I want pizza, I call up and?order a pizza. If I want to book a flight, I go online and book my flight. If I want to watch a movie, I?ll download from Netflix and watch it. Easy, huh?

So why is it so difficult to do the same when I have a problem and need customer service?

If I call my cable service provider, or bank, or insurance company, I don?t want to be sat there pressing buttons until my fingertips bleed, just to get to the right department. I don?t want to hear hold music for 15 minutes, only to then be told I need to go back to the department I just came from. I don?t want to be told my call is important to you when it feels anything but.

Businesses spend so much time getting their brand right; their marketing; their PR; their sales; their online strategy. But you know what?

None of this means a thing without customers. And customers do?not want to feel second-rate. Strange but true ? satisfy your customers and you?ll satisfy your shareholders and accountants.

How?s?your satisfaction level holding up?